EFL League One
The Valley, Charlton
Admission: Season Ticket
Programme: £3.50
Attendance: 15,314 (996 away)
So today would be my second trip to The Valley on consecutive Saturdays, as well as the final home game of the season. There was certainly an element of "thank god for that" about today, at the end of a season which started with hopes of mounting a push for the play-offs, but which panned out in a depressingly familiar fashion of chaos and mismanagement off the field, and frustrating inconsistency on it, leaving nothing realistically to play for since the turn of the year, well, apart from the token achievement of a top ten finish.
After a disappointing performance and result at home to Morecambe last Saturday Charlton came into this game in eleventh place in the table, following 15 wins and 13 draws from 44 league games and with just two games left to play, the highest the Addicks can now finish is tenth - and were a point adrift of Lincoln City, the club occupying that position. Following promotion last season, Port Vale had a poor run from mid March, including three draws and five defeats from eight games. It was a run which threatened to open the relegation trap door back down to League Two, a prospect which prompted the sacking of manager Darrell Clarke, and replaced by interim manager Andy Crosby. A 2-0 win last Saturday arrested the slide, and barring mathematical miracles, ensured League One football for the Valiants next season. They came into this game in 18th place, following 13 wins and ten draws from 44 League games.
A match report can be viewed by clicking here, also copied and posted below
Brief video highlights can be viewed by clicking here
Kevin Nolan’s Valley View: Charlton Athletic 3-2 Port Vale
The Addicks claimed victory in the last home match of another poor season. On a sunny day at The Valley, KEVIN NOLAN tried to look on the bright side.
The sheepish owners of a moth-eaten 15-13-16 record prior to this penultimate game, Charlton have lurched through another monotonous season with infuriating inconsistency. A spineless 1-0 submission to Bristol Rovers just six days after Shrewsbury Town were demolished 6-0 at The Valley rubber-stamped their chronic unreliability.
But at least Saturday’s visit by Port Vale gave them an opportunity to balance the slate and at the same time reinforce their claim to be considered the most dreary, mediocre team in League One.
Vale, meanwhile, arrived in SE7 trailing their hosts by 12 points but justifiably satisfied with their campaign to date. Promoted last term via the play-offs, their priority was consolidation of their achievement at a higher level.
That modest objective has been realised by 12 victories, among them a 1-0 conquest of the Addicks at Vale Park in November, a useful result which meant that revenge, as well as statistical levelling up, was on Charlton’s Saturday agenda.
The chips were down; there was everything to play for; losing was unacceptable. Well, that is a gross exaggeration but a surprisingly healthy crowd, with 996 of them housed in the Jimmy Seed stand, rose to the occasion.
It’s only fair to say that these sides, both of them League One also-rans, served up reasonable entertainment Only the extra edge in class, supplied principally by wide men Tyreece Campbell and Jesurun Rak-Sakyi, decided the keenly-contested issue in Charlton’s favour.
Both of them scored, Rak-Sakyi for the 15th time in a fruitful loan spell from Crystal Palace. The slimline winger notched another of his trademarked goals but it was Campbell, whose 14th minute opener did the early damage. Supplied by Albie Morgan to the right of Aidan Stone’s goal, the promising youngster efficiently found the far corner with a sweetly-placed strike.
The visitors were shaken but recovered well. It’s almost an article of faith that Charlton make heavy weather of breaking clear and winning comfortably. They were the better side but proved unable to prove the point before the interval, as the Valiants stayed in the game and gradually gained an ominous foothold. Daniel Butterworth’s weaving dribble produced a firm drive, which luckily was deflected to safety.
Vale captain Tom Pett was a busy influence in midfield as the visitors gave as good as they got, without making any clear-cut chances. When Rak-Sakyi doubled the Addicks’ lead before the hour, it briefly seemed that the issue had been sealed.
The coaching book on the elusive trickster surely stresses the importance of keeping him on his not-quite-so strong right foot whenever he embarks on one of his lateral solo runs from right to left.
Instead Vale, as have many defences before them, allowed the loanee space
to draw a left-footed bead and plant a crisp drive beyond Stone. His finishing is beyond reproach but it’s all but certain he’ll be doing his bit, if not for Palace, for some fortunate club at Championship level. He’s too good for League One.
Three minutes after Rak-Sakyi appeared to have put the game beyond the Burslem boys’ reach, Port Vale snatched an untidy goal and were back at the races. Substitute James Plant seized on the chaos caused by Mal Benning’s right-wing corner and bashed a loose ball past a blameless Ashley Maynard-Brewer. Nearly a thousand visitors behind the goal sensed a lifeline and kicked up a fuss, which was cruelly silenced by Miles Leaburn some 15 minutes later.
The strapping young kid hadn’t had so much as a look-in but like all natural strikers, bided his time and was ready when his chance arrived. Morgan’s persistence kept the ball alive and Leaburn pounced on Vale’s dithering and netted Charlton’ second clincher – or so it seemed at the time.
It was probably just as well that Terrell Thomas’s careless handling of Dennis Politic’s shot gifted the visitors a penalty in the last minute of added time – a few minutes later and It might have been interesting. Matty Taylor made easy work of converting the spotkick.
Whatever the merits of beating new boys Port Vale, it has at least given the Addicks the chance of improving their symmetrical 16-13-16 record. It hardly justifies writing home about, but there you go – there’s everything to play for at Cheltenham next Sunday. They beat Charlton 1-0 at The Valley in December and there’s no way they’re getting away with that. Go get ’em, lads.
Charlton: Maynard-Brewer, Clare (Egbo 78) Thomas, Hector (Mitchell 78), Dobson, Morgan, Rak-Sakyi, Fraser (Payne 78), Leaburn, Campbell (Henry 85), Sessegnon (Kane 85). Not used: Wollacott, Kanu. Booked: Dobson, Morgan, Hector.
Port Vale: Stone, Donnelly, Smith, Worrall, Benning, Proctor (Conlon 46), Ojo, Forrester (Taylor 46), Massy, Pett, Butterworth (Politic 72). Not used: Stevens, Holden, McDermott.
Referee: Carl Brook. Official attendance: 15,314 (996 visiting).
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